Optically transparent electrically conductive semiconductor windows

ABSTRACT

A semiconductor window which is transparent to light in the infrared range and which has good electrical conductivity is formed of a substrate material having a semiconductor coating having a dopant included therein. The coating is diffused, grown or deposited on one surface of the substrate and is controlled to obtain both low electrical resistivity and high infrared transmissivity. The coating can be formed of the same material as the substrate or can be a different material. Windows having particular thermal properties are formed utilizing zinc selenide and zinc sulfide as the substrate.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is filed as a continuation-in-part of an applicationentitled OPTICALLY TRANSPARENT ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE SEMICONDUCTORWINDOWS AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURE, Ser. No. 014,326, filed in the nameof Paul Kraatz, James M. Rowe, John W. Tully, Vahram W. Biricik, WesleyJ. Thompson and Rudolph W. Modster on Feb. 13, 1987, the entire contentsof which are herein incorporated by reference, and which is now U.S.Pat. No. 4,778,731.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

This invention relates to windows having an infrared transparentsubstrate and a transparent electrically conductive semiconductor.

Transparent conductive windows through which optical energy must passand which have good electrical conductivity have utility in a number ofapplications. These include resistance heated windows, electro magneticinterference (EMI) shielded windows, anti-static windows and transparentelectrodes. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,433, entitled TRANSPARENT CONDUCTIVEWINDOWS, COATINGS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE and assigned to NorthropCorporation, the assignee of the present application, transparentconductive windows, coatings and their method of manufacture aredescribed which employ thin conductive metal layers which are sandwichedbetween dielectric impedance matching layers. The devices of this priorpatent afford both good electrical conductivity and transmissivity inthe infrared and ultra violet ranges.

Other known applicable prior art devices are discussed by J. L. Vossenin an article on transparent conducting films which appeared in Physicsof Thin Films, Volume 9, published in 1977 by Academic Press. In thisarticle, the use of semiconductor oxides forming transparent conductivefilms is discussed. It has been found, however, that semiconductor oxidesubstrates exhibit the shortcomings of low carrier lifetime, resistivitywhich is higher than to be desired and relatively low opticaltransmissivity particularly in the infrared range.

Further J. Aranovich, et. al., in "High conductivity ZnSe Films", J.Appl. Phys., 49(4), April 1978; L. C. Olsen, et. al., in"Vacuum-evaporated Conducting ZnS Films", Appl. Phys. Lett., 34(8),April 1979; P. Petrou, et. al., in "The Use Of ZnO In Transparent TypeMIS Solar Cells", Appl. Phys. Lett., 15 December 1979; J. B. Webb, et.al., in "Transparent And Highly Conductive Films Of ZnO Prepared By rfReactive Magnetron Sputtering", Appl Phys. Lett., 15 October 1981 and H.Nanto, et. al., in "Electrical And Optical Properties Of Zinc Oxide ThinFilms Prepared By rf Magnetron Sputtering For Transparent ElectrodeApplications", J. Appl. Phys., 55(4), 15 February 1984 have studied thefeasibility of depositing thin conducting films of ZnS, ZnSe or ZnOfilms for potential use in photovoltaic heterojuctions for solar cells.For these demonstrations, with one exception, the films were depositedon glass slides. For the demonstration of P. Petrou et. al. a titaniumfilm was interspersed between the thin film and the glass slide.

The device of the present invention affords a number of advantages overthat of the aforementioned prior devices and demonstrations. Theseinclude the capability of providing transmissivity over greater bandwidths; higher transmissivity for electromagnetic waves having angles ofincidence away from the normal; greater mechanical durability; increaseddevice size and greater ease and economy of fabrication.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

It is a general object of the present invention to provide windowshaving transparent, conductive semiconductor coatings. It is an objectof this invention to provide windows having high optical transmittancethroughout a broad optical band and low sheet resistance. It is afurther object of this invention to provide windows which maintain theirtransparency at high temperatures.

The present invention provides for transparent conducting windowsincluding infrared conducting windows which include an infraredtransparent substrate having a semiconductor coating on a surfacethereof. The semiconductor coating includes a dopant for rendering thecoating conductive. The substrate and the semiconductor coating may beof the same material or they may be different materials.

Devices of the invention include window substrates including zincselenide, zinc sulfide, sapphire, spinel and aluminum oxy nitride.

Devices of the invention include semiconductor coatings includinggallium arsenide, gallium aluminum arsenide, silicon, germanium, zincsulfide, zinc selenide, zinc oxide, semiconducting diamond andsemiconducting silicon carbide.

For use with germanium or silicon coating, dopants include lithium,phorphorus, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, boron, aluminum, gallium,indium, zinc and thallium.

For use with gallium arsenide or gallium aluminum arsenide coatings,dopants include sulfur, selenium, tin, tellurium, germanium, silicon,magnesium, lithium, zinc, manganese, cadmium and beryllium.

For use with zinc sulfide, zinc selenide or zinc oxide coatings, dopantsinclude zinc, aluminum, gallium and indium.

For use with semiconducting diamond and semiconducting silicon carbidesince these are of the same period as are silicon and germanium, siliconand germanium type dopants are selected.

In an embodiment of the invention employing either a semiconductor or anon-semiconductor substrate, a semiconductor coating and a dopant aredeposited on a surface of the substrate. As such the substrate and thecoating can be the same material or a different material. In view ofthis the substrate can be selected with respect to a first set ofparameters and the coating with respect to a second set of parameterswhich (aside from the coating being conductive and the substratenon-conductive) may be identical, similar to or complementary to thoseof the first set of parameters.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

This invention will be better understood when taken in conjunction withthe drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing illustrating the structure of a window ofthe invention;

FIG. 2 is a graph illustrating the transmission characteristics of awindow of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating the transmission characteristics of afurther window of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic drawing illustrating the fabrication of a windowof the invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic drawing illustrating the fabrication of a furtherwindow of the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic drawings illustrating the structure of a furtherwindow of the invention.

MODES OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

As used herein, the term "doped" means establishing an impurityconcentration in a semiconductor by diffusion, epitaxial deposition, orother means.

The windows of the invention have a substrate which is transparent toinfrared radiation. A coating is then formed in or on the substrate.Thus the coating is either an inherent layer of the transparentsubstrate or an added transparent layer. In any event the coating isdoped with an appropriate dopant to render the coating conductive butstill maintain it transparent. Generally the coating will be of athickness of from 1 to about 200 microns thick. Typically of a thicknessof from 1 to 50 microns.

For coatings which are formed as inherent layers of the substrate, thesubstrate is chosen as a semiconductor material and a dopant is diffusedor otherwise located in a surface layer of the substrate. The dopant istypically diffused to a thickness of from 15 to 50 microns.

For a coating formed as a layer added to the substrate, as with thediffusion process, the substrate can be a semiconductor. Additionallyfor an added layer, the substrate can be selected for properties otherthan its being a semiconductor as, for example, for its mechanicalproperties. An added coating will have a thickness of up to 200 microns,typically from about 2 to about 25 microns.

Irrespective of construction of the windows of the invention, thesubstrates utilized for the windows of the invention will be transparentto infrared radiation. Depending on the particular substrate and coatingselected, windows of the invention will include transparency up to about16 microns as, for instance, in a range of from about 2 microns to about16 microns. Thus windows of the inventions include infrared transparencyfrom near to long IR (infrared).

While certain of the materials for the substrates and coatings of thewindows of the invention are very broad band, i.e. gallium arsenide,zinc sulfide and zinc selenide, other substrates and coatings have amore limited frequency range and will be chosen for that frequencyrange. The conductive coated windows of the invention thus haveparticular useful properties in the infrared wave lengths, those mostuseful being the 3 to 5 micron and the 8 to 12 micron ranges.

Aside from being transparent in the wavelengths of interest, inselecting the substrates for the windows of the inventions,consideration may also include other criteria including but not limitedto mechanical properties and availability of certain window sizes.Mechanical properties which may be considered are the mechanicalstrength and thermal working ranges of the substrates.

While the semiconductor materials utilized for the coatings of thepresent invention typically have higher resistivity than metalliccoatings, because they have greater optical transparency they can beutilized as thicker coatings and as such the final coating will have asheet resistance equal to or lower than the sheet resistance for asimilar metal coating but will also enjoy a greater opticaltransparency. Further, semiconductor coatings better match themechanical properties of the window substrate and, as such, better indexof refraction matching is possible between the semiconductor coatingsversus metal coatings. As opposed to prior metal conductive layers whichwere only Angstroms thick, the conductive semiconductor coatings of theinvention are deposited in the above noted thicknesses of from about 1micron to about 200 microns and at these thickness exhibitedconductivities below about 100 ohms per square or preferably lower as,for instance, below 30 ohms per square and for certain preferred usesbelow 10 ohms per square.

Generally materials for the coatings will be selected to take advantageof both their electrical conductivity and their transparency to thewavelengths of interest. Normally the cut off point with respect to thelower end of the range of wavelengths for the coatings is governed bythe band gap whereas the cut off for the longwave length is governed bythe conductivity. As such, depending upon the particular window which isof interest, these factors will be taken into consideration for choosingboth an appropriate coating and an appropriate substrate suitable forthe particular window of interest.

In preparing windows of the invention by diffusing a dopant into asubstrate, the dopant is diffused to greater depths than are commonlyemployed in other technologies and its concentration, distribution anddepth of diffusion are closely controlled to effect optimum opticaltransmittance and low electrical resistivity. In a window of theinvention employing a semiconductor material for the substrate, coatingsformed by doping the substrates with appropriate dopant elements whichdiffuse into the substrate surface, are formed so as to leave theoptical constants of the substrate essentially unchanged.

The dopant may be applied to the substrate surface by a variety of meansdepending upon the chemistry of the substrate and dopant and theirresponses to various ambient environmental conditions. The dopant may bedeposited on the substrate surface from an inert gas carrier in acontrolled atmosphere in a furnace, for example. It may be deposited onthe substrate surface from a liquid solution, suspension, or slurry, byspinning or spraying, and preconditioned by thermal treatment in acontrolled atmosphere. It may be deposited in vacuum by various means,including evaporation from an electron beam or thermal source,sputtering in dc, rf, or magnetron-supported discharge, or combinationsthereof, ion beam sputtering, ion plating, molecular beam epitaxy, orvariants thereof, and ion implantation. It may also be deposited on thesubstrate surface by reactants in the vapor phase (i.e., chemical vapordeposition) at, above, or below atmospheric pressure. However applied,the dopant is diffused into the surface of the substrate. Diffusion iseffected at an appropriate temperature considering the substrate and thedopant as, for example, at elevated temperature (600-1200° C.).

For maximizing transmittance, a series of dielectric anti-reflectionstacks are deposited on both of the opposite surfaces of the substrate.

In preparing windows of the invention by depositing a doped coating ontoa surface of a substrate, the doped coating can be deposited utilizing avariety of homoepitaxy or heteroepitaxy procedures. Examples ofhomoepitaxy include, but are not limited to, doped silicon on silicon,doped germanium on germanium, doped gallium arsenide on galliumarsenide, doped zinc sulfide on zinc sulfide and doped zinc selenide onzinc selenide; i.e., the deposited layer is, in essence, chemicallyidentical to the substrate host, with the addition of a trace amount ofa dopant species. Examples of heteroepitaxy include, but are not limitedto, gallium arsenide on germanium, gallium aluminum arsenide on galliumarsenide, and germanium on zinc sulfide or zinc selenide; i.e., thedeposited layer is chemically different, but structurally similar to thesubstrate host, on an atomic scale. In addition, similarities inchemical bond type and coefficient of thermal expansion betweensubstrate host and deposited layer are considered for the occurrence ofheteroepitaxy. To augment the properties of these windows, a series or"stack" of dielectric antireflection coatings might then also bedeposited on the coated and uncoated surfaces of the substratesemployed.

Coatings are deposited onto a substrate by various means includingvacuum evaporation, sputtering, and various chemical vapor depositionsuch as plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition, microwave plasmaassisted chemical vapor deposition, photon assisted chemical vapordeposition, halide chemical vapor deposition, metal organic chemicalvapor deposition and remote plasma enhanced chemical vapor depositions.

In taking into account the above teachings, useful for substrates forthe windows of the invention are silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide,zinc selenide, zinc sulfide, sapphire, spinel and aluminum oxy nitride.Useful for the semiconductor coatings are gallium arsenide, galliumaluminum arsenide, silicon, germanium, zinc sulfide, zinc selenide, zincoxide, semiconducting diamond and semiconducting silicon carbide.

Zinc selenide and zinc sulfide are particularly useful for windowsubstrates because of their broad band (up to 12 to 14 microns) andtheir ability to remain transparent at temperatures up to 400° F.

Germanium which also has a broad transparency band (up to 12 microns)becomes opaque at elevated temperatures and therefore is not a substrateof choice for applications which would involve elevated temperatures.However, germanium is still an agent of choice for coatings if used as arelatively thin coating as, for instance, less than 50 microns. In athickness of less than 50 microns, a germanium coating remainstransparent at temperatures of up to 400° F.

Also useful for high temperature coatings is gallium arsenide. Galliumarsenide also has a very broad band (up to 16 microns) in the longinfrared. Gallium arsenide is also useful as a high temperaturesubstrate, hoWever, because at the present time large windows of galliumarsenide are not available, if gallium arsenide is used as a substrate,generally the window size will be limited with respect to its crosssectional area to the sizes of gallium arsenide substrates which arepresently available.

As opposed to gallium arsenide, zinc selenide and zinc sulfide windowsare available in large sizes as, for instance, one inch thick withlateral dimensions greater than 12 inches. Thus, these substrates areparticularly useful in those instances wherein large windows are desiredespecially those which would be exposed to high temperatures.

Aluminum oxide, i.e. sapphire; spinel, i.e. MgA1₂ O₄ ; and aluminum oxynitride, i.e. A1ON; are useful as materials for mid IR windows. Theseceramic substances offer transparency up to about 5 or 6 microns.Further, these windows offer excellent mechanical consideration as totheir strength and size availabilities. These ceramic window substratesalso allow for greater variabilities in the shapes of the windowsbecause the powdered precursors of the substrates can be isostaticallypressed into desired shapes followed by sintering.

Dopants for the semiconductor coating of the windows of the inventionscan be selected as either p type dopants or n type dopants. Forgermanium or silicon coatings (and semiconducting diamond and siliconcarbide), n type dopants are selected from lithium, phorphorus, arsenic,antimony, bismuth and p type dopants are selected from boron, aluminum,gallium, indium, zinc and thallium.

For gallium arsenide or gallium aluminum arsenide coatings, n typedopants are selected from sulfur, selenium, tin, tellurium, germanium,silicon and p type dopants are selected from silicon, germanium,magnesium, lithium, zinc, manganese, cadmium and beryllium. Sincesilicon and germanium are amphoteric they are useful for both n and ptype gallium arsenide dopants.

For zinc sulfide, zinc selenide or zinc oxide coatings, dopants areselected from zinc, aluminum, gallium and indium. In forming coatings ofzinc sulfide, zinc selenide or zinc oxide, as an alternate to theaddition of a further dopant element, the coating can be doped with zincby utilizing a less than stoichiometic amount of the respective sulfur,selenium or oxygen during a chemical vapor deposition reaction.

Dopant concentration in the coating takes into consideration materialproperties and temperatures. The overall sheet resistance of the dopedcoating is a combination of the sheet thickness and the resistivity. Theconcentration is selected to achieve the necessary carriers for sheetresistance without detracting from the optical properties of thecoating. Generally the lower the dopant concentration the higher theresistivity and the higher the dopant concentration the lower theresistivity.

Temperature is considered for those dopants and coating combinationswhich may be effected by temperature such as lithium in germanium. Sincelithium is a fast diffuser, an appropriate lower temperature environmentmust be used for both the formation and operation of windows of theinvention utilizing lithium doped germanium. Further in using zinc as adopant in silicon while it is not as temperature dependent as Li/Ge,either device cooling must be provided or a shorter device lifetimeexpected.

Aside from its optical and electrical properties, selection of an addedcoating can also consider the mechanical strength and durability of thesemiconductor material used. In considering physical durabilitygenerally the following order of durability is followed: semiconductingdiamond and semiconducting silicon carbide greater than silicon greaterthan germanium greater than zinc sulfide and zinc selenide and zincoxide greater than gallium arsenide.

A silicon substrate having a doped silicon coating (formed by eitherdiffusion or as an added layer) provides good mid infrared transparency.It provides the mechanical properties of silicon for both substrate andcoating. It is formed from readily availably materials. It provides easeof fabrication and the ability to form various window sizes. Further thesilicon coating is readily coated with SiO for further mechanical andanti reflectance considerations.

A doped silicon coating on gallium arsenide provides a mid IR windowwith the good mechanical properties and fabrication characteristics ofthe silicon coating. The silicon coating thus increases the abrasionresistance and environmental stability of the gallium arsenidesubstrate.

If a doped germanium coating is utilized on a germanium substrate thetransparency of the window is expanded to include long infrared out toabout 12 microns. The doped germanium coating can be prepared by varioustechniques including lower processing temperatures than is availablewith a silicon coating.

A doped germanium coating on a silicon substrate while not as broad bandas a germanium coating on a germanium substrate is not excluded for hightemperature use since the relatively thin (compared to the substratethickness) of the germanium coating renders the coating transparent athigh temperatures.

A doped germanium coating on a gallium arsenide substrate offers thebroad band of both the germanium and gallium arsenide coupled with theusefulness of the gallium arsenide substrate at high temperatures.

A doped gallium arsenide or gallium aluminum arsenide coating on galliumarsenide affords a window having an extremely broad transparency band upto 16 microns. While such a window is more fragile than other windows,it is capable of being further coated with other layers for improvementsto it mechanical properties.

Generally, substrates of either zinc sulfide or zinc selenide allow theformation of large sized (polycrystalline) windows which are transparentto 14 microns for zinc selenide and 12 microns for zinc sulfide. A dopedgallium arsenide or gallium aluminum arsenide coating on such asubstrate maintains the broad window of the substrate while maintainingthe excellent physical and high temperature properties of the zinc basedsubstrate.

A doped germanium coating on a zinc sulfide or zinc selenide substratemaintains the broad transparency of the zinc based substrate whileoffering conductive properties of a germanium coating. Thus thesewindows are available in large sizes and can be prepared by varioustechniques.

A doped silicon coating on a zinc sulfide or zinc selenide substrateoffers variety of fabrication with readily available materials and evengreat abrasion resistance compared to germanium; however, compared to agermanium or gallium arsenide coating the window is restricted tooperation in the near to mid IR.

A doped zinc sulfide, zinc selenide or zinc oxide coating on a zincsulfide or zinc selenide substrate offers the high temperature use,transmission, durability and availability of a zinc based system forboth the coating and substrate and thermal matching resulting fromutilizing a zinc based system for both coating and substrate. Dependingon the particular zinc compound utilized for either the coating orsubstrate, transmission out to 12 to 14 microns is possible.

In addition to mechanical stability and thermal insensitivity, asemiconducting diamond or semiconducting silicon carbide coating on azinc sulfide or zinc selenide substrate offers enhanced abrasion,robustness and durability.

Substituting either a sapphire, spinel or aluminum oxy nitride substratefor the above zinc sulfide or zinc selenide substrates not only retainsthe mechanical and thermal properties of the windows but enhances themwith respect to certain mechanical strengths, methods of fabrication(as, for instance, the above referenced isostatic pressing and sinteringto obtain various shapes) and thermal conductivity. This is compromisedhowever in a reduction of the breadth of the tranparency of the window.These ceramic substrate based windows are however transparent out toabout 5 or 6 microns, thus they are excellent windows for the mid IR.

A doped semiconducting diamond or semiconducting silicon carbide coatingon a sapphire substrate results in the superior mechanical properties ofboth the coating and the substrate. An exotic shaped substrate coated asfor instance with doped semiconducting diamond in a microwave plasmaassisted chemical vapor deposition reactor yields a conductive windowwhich mimics the shape of the substrate and has all of the desirableproperties of both the coating and the substrate.

In view of the above, a first preferred window of the invention includesa gallium arsenide substrate having a doped gallium arsenide coatingthereon.

A further preferred window of the invention includes a gallium arsenidesubstrate having a doped gallium aluminum arsenide, silicon or germaniumcoating thereon.

A further preferred window of the invention includes a silicon orgermanium substrate which has doped coating formed therein by diffusion.

A further preferred window of the invention includes a silicon orgermanium substrate having an added doped gallium arsenide, galliumaluminum arsenide, silicon, germanium, zinc sulfide, zinc selenide orzinc oxide coating thereon.

A further preferred window of the invention includes a zinc sulfide orzinc selenide substrate having a silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide,gallium aluminum arsenide, zinc sulfide, zinc selenide or zinc oxidecoating thereon.

A further preferred window of the invention includes a sapphire, spinelor aluminum oxy nitride substrate having a silicon, germanium, galliumarsenide, gallium aluminum arsenide, zinc sulfide, zinc selenide or zincoxide coating thereon.

A further preferred window of the invention includes a silicon,germanium, gallium arsenide, zinc sulfide, zinc selenide, sapphire,spinel or aluminum oxy nitride substrate having a doped semiconductingdiamond or semiconducting silicon carbide coating thereon.

Typically, doped silicon or doped germanium coating will be formed ontheir appropriate substrates utilizing sputtering, vacuum evaporation orchemical vapor deposition. Typically doped gallium arsenide or galliumaluminum arsenide coating will be formed on their appropriate substratesutilizing metal organic chemical vapor deposition. Typically doped zincsulfide, zinc selenide and zinc oxide coating will be formed on theirappropriate substrates utilizing vacuum evaporation or rf reactivemagnetron sputtering. And as noted above, diamond coatings can be formedby microwave plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition.

Referring now to FIG. 1, first and second illustrative windows of theinvention are schematically illustrated. The first window employs asemiconductor substrate 11 of silicon while in the second window thesubstrate is of germanium. The thickness of the substrate is notcritical but should be sufficient to make for a structurally selfsupporting unit and may typically be of the order of 0.015-0.250 inches.Thicker substrates, e.g. 0.5 to 1.0 inches:, could also be employedespecially with ZnSe or ZnS substrates. Thicker substrates would beparticularly useful when a self supporting unit is called for in view ofthe fact that adherents presently available which could be used toattach the substrate to a supporting optical window do not have goodoptical transmittance in the infrared spectrum. With the discovery ofadherents with the proper optical characteristics, a supporting windowmight be employed.

A doped semiconductor layer 14 which may be doped by phosphorous,arsenic or antimony for either substrate is vacuum deposited or carriedto the surface of the substrate in an inert gaseous or liquid medium. Itis diffused into the substrate to a considerably greater depth than inthe prior art. The doped layer is diffused to depths between 15 and 50microns and in the preferred embodiments is of the order of 25 micronsthick. The dopant can be of either a p or a n type and leaves theoptical constants of the substrate substantially unaltered when comparedwith undoped material.

Layered over doped layer 14 are a plurality of dielectric layers 15-18which are typically thermally evaporated on by techniques well known inthe art to form an anti-reflection stack. These layers are typically ofa material such as germanium or zinc sulfide and have thicknesses of theorder of 0.3 microns. Similar dielectric anti-reflection layers 19-22are deposited on the bottom surface of substrate 11. The materialsemployed for these anti-reflection layers and the thicknesses of thedeposition thereof are chosen for optimum anti-reflectioncharacteristics for each particular embodiment.

The characteristics of a window of the invention having a germaniumsubstrate are shown in FIG. 3. This window has a sheet resistivity of 5ohms/square. As can be seen from the graph, between 85% and 95%transmittance is provided in the infrared spectrum between three andtwelve microns for light with a normal angle of incidence. With a 70degree angle of incidence over this same range transmittance variesbetween about 55% and 78%.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the characteristics of a window of theinvention with a silicon substrate is shown. For this window, sheetresistance is 5 ohms/square and as can be seen from the figure,transmittance is 90% for light waves between 3 and 5 microns having anormal angle of incidence. As further shown, for an angle of incidenceof 70 degrees over the same wave length band, transmittance is about75%.

Referring now to FIG. 4, equipment utilized to fabricate a window of theinvention with a silicon substrate is shown. The window is fabricated asfollows with reference to FIG. 4.

EXAMPLE I

A silicon substrate 20 having a thickness of 0.250 inches has its bottomsurface coated with a silicon dioxide coating 21 to a thickness of 1micron. The silicon dioxide coating is used to provide a barrier layerimpervious to the dopant species thus protecting the bottom surface fromcontact therewith. This silicon dioxide layer can be deposited by anyconventional techniques such as sputtering, evaporation or spin coatingby conventional techniques well known in the art and is done prior tothe placement of the substrate in the furnace 26. Also, in order toremove any residual native oxide from the silicon surface to be doped,after the silicon dioxide layer has been deposited, the substrate isdipped in cold dilute hydrofluoric acid, 10% by volume, for about thirtyseconds and then rinsed in deionized water and blown dry with nitrogenimmediately prior to insertion in the furnace. This last mentioned stepis necessary to prevent any residual oxide on the silicon surface fromacting as a barrier to the diffusion of the phosphorous to be used as adopant. This light etching will not remove an appreciable amount of thesilicon dioxide deposited on the lower surface of the substrate. Priorto the insertion of the substrate in the furnace, the furnacetemperature is set at 950° C. with valve 27 open and the remainingvalves closed to permit the flow of nitrogen gas into the furnace at arate of 2000 cc/min. The substrate 20 is then placed on quartz boat 24which is mounted in the flat zone of the quartz lined furnace 26. Theflow of nitrogen at 2000 cc/min. through valve 27 into the furnace iscontinued for a period of five minutes to permit thermal equilibrationof the substrate 20 while purging the substrate surface.

When the temperature of the substrate 20 has equilibrated at 950° C.,valve 28 is opened (valve 27 is left open) and nitrogen is flowed at arate of 40 cc/min. through liquid phosphorous oxychloride 30 containedwithin bubbler flask 31 for a period of 5 minutes to effectively purgethe bubbler system. After the bubbler system has been purged by thenitrogen, valve 34 is opened and oxygen flowed into furnace 26 at a rateof 60 cc/min. Valve 28 is left open to effect the feeding of evaporatedphosphorous oxychloride into furnace 26 on a nitrogen carrier. Theoxygen reacts with the phosphorous oxychloride vapor fed into thefurnace from flask 31 to form a phosphate glass on the surface ofsubstrate 20. This deposition process is continued for a period oftwenty minutes. At the end of this period, valves 28 and 34 are closedand valve 27 is opened to permit the flow of nitrogen into the furnacefor five minutes to purge the furnace.

At the end of this five minute period, valve 27 is closed and the dopedsubstrate removed from the furnace and its surface resistance measuredusing a four point probe or other convenient device. Typically theresistance so measured is about four times the surface resistance of thedoped silicon substrate after the diffusion step. Thus, a siliconsurface with phosphate glass measuring 20 ohms/square will yield asilicon surface measuring 5 ohms/square after diffusion has beencompleted in a following step. If the resistance is too high the siliconsubstrate is returned to the furnace and the phosphorous oxychloridedeposition continued for a period to lower the resistance to the desiredpoint. It is to be noted in this regard that resistance decreases as theconcentration of the dopant layer increases.

The furnace is then heated to a temperature of 1150° C. and the dopedsubstrate placed back in the furnace on the quartz boat and valve 27opened to permit a flow of nitrogen into the furnace at a rate of 1500cc/min. After sufficient time (five minutes) has elapsed to permitthermal equilibration of the doped substrate, valve 37 is opened topermit a flow of oxygen into the furnace at a rate of 1600 cc/min., withnitrogen continuing to be supplied to the furnace through valve 27 butwith the rate of flow reduced to 50 cc/min. Valve 38 is also opened topermit a flow of hydrogen into the furnace at a rate of 2600 cc/min. Theflow of oxygen at 1600 cc/min. through valve 37, hydrogen at 2600cc/min. through valve 38 and nitrogen at 50 cc/min. through valve 27 iscontinued for thirty minutes to produce a native oxide coating on thedopant surface having a thickness of 5000 Angstroms. At the end of thisthirty minute period, valves 37 and 38 are closed to shut off the oxygenand hydrogen supplied to the furnace and valve 27 is adjusted to providea nitrogen flow to the furnace at the rate of 1500 cc/min., such supplyof nitrogen being continued to purge the atmosphere in the furnace, thefurnace being kept at its heated temperature for 600 hours to completethe diffusion of the dopant into the substrate. Diffusion time can bevaried between 400 and 1000 hours to provide optimum opticaltransmission and sheet resistance. The substrate can be removed from theoven to check these parameters and diffusion either terminated orcontinued, as may be called for. After etching in dilute (10% by volume)hydrofluoric acid to remove all residual SiO₂ and phosphate glass fromeither side of the substrate, the anti-reflectant coatings (15-22) arethen deposited by conventional vacuum evaporation from an electron beamsource, using monitoring instruments to measure the rate of depositionand the thickness of deposition. In a typical anti-reflectant coatingfor this example, layers 15 and, 19 consist of germanium and are 0.073microns thick; layers 16 and 20 consist of aluminum oxide (A1₂ O₃) andare 0.188 microns thick; layers 17 and 20 are germanium, 0.088 micronsthick, and layers 18 and 22 are aluminum oxide (A1₂ O₃), 0.750 micronsthick.

In diffusion fabrication of a window of the invention having a germaniumsubstrate, an n type dopant such as antimony, arsenic, or phosphorous isdeposited upon the surface of a substrate by vacuum evaporation orsputtering. The desired dopant in elemental or non-oxide compound form(e.g. antimony) is first vacuum deposited on the germanium surface to athickness of five Angstroms. The dopant layer is then covered bY aprotective coating of a material such as silicon or silicon monoxide toa minimum thickness of 500 to 1000 Angstroms in a vacuum environment.The doped substrate is then placed in a standard electrically heateddiffusion furnace employing a flowing reducing gas mixture of nitrogenor argon and hydrogen (3.5% hydrogen by volume), the furnace beingsealed at both ends to exclude the ambient atmosphere as is commonlydone in chemical vapor deposition processes. The gas mix passes througha bubbler filled with a low vapor pressure oil at the tube exit toprevent back streaming of the ambient atmosphere. The doped substrate isthen diffused for fifteen to twenty hours in the furnace at atemperature of 750° C. in an atmosphere of a mixture of nitrogen orargon and 3.5% hydrogen by volume.

The electrical and optical characteristics of the finished product aredetermined by the details of processing, e.g., the amount of dopantdeposited, the diffusion temperature, and the diffusion time. Forexample, with antimony dopant deposited on a germanium wafer to athickness of five Angstroms which is covered by a protective coating ofelemental silicon 500 Angstroms thick and with the antimony beingdiffused for twenty hours at 750° C. in an atmosphere of argon having3.5% hydrogen by volume, an end product is produced having a surfaceresistance of 4 ohms/square and a transmissivity of 40% in ,the 8-12micron band and 42% in the 3-5 micron band. On the other hand withantimony deposited on a germanium wafer to a thickness of 200 Angstromswith identical processing as for the first example, an end producthaving a surface resistance of 1.5 ohms/square and transmissivity of 30%in the 8-12 micron band is provided.

An example of a method for fabricating a window of the inventionutilizing a germanium substrate is described in connection with FIG. 5.

EXAMPLE II

A germanium substrate is used having a thickness of 0.250 inches. Anantimony dopant layer of 5 Angstroms thickness is then deposited bysputtering. Over the antimony dopant layer a silicon monoxide orelemental silicon protective encapsulant layer is deposited bysputtering to a thickness of 500 to 1000 Angstroms. Referring now toFIG. 5, the substrate 51 is then placed in quartz line furnace 52 whichhas electrical resistance or inductive heating elements 54. Thesubstrate is supported on a fused quartz boat 56 with the furnace beingheated to 400° C. The atmosphere inside the furnace is then purged byfeeding nitrogen into the furnace through inlet 52a at 3 liters/minutefor a period of thirty minutes. The gas is exited into bubbler 57wherein to prevent back streaming of the ambient air it is passed to theambient atmosphere through a low vapor pressure oil, such as diffusionpump fluid. The temperature of the furnace is then raised from 400° C.to 750° C. over a period of thirty minutes, and during this time a gasmixture of nitrogen and 3.5% hydrogen is fed into the furnace at a rateof 1.5 liters/minute. The temperature of the oven is maintained at 750°C. while continuing to feed the nitrogen/hydrogen mixture into thefurnace to achieve drive in diffusion of the antimony dopant layer intothe germanium substrate. This step is carried on for a period of 16hours. The furnace is then cooled down from 750° C. to 400° C. over aperiod of four hours while continuing to feed the nitrogen/hydrogenmixture thereto. With the oven at 400° C., the atmosphere in the furnaceis purged by feeding nitrogen at a rate of 1.5 liters/minute for aperiod of thirty minutes. It is to be noted that in both this and thepreceding gas purge steps, that argon can be used in place of nitrogen.

The doped germanium substrate is then removed from the furnace andresidual dopant and protective encapsulant material removed from itssurface by wet chemical etching, this end result being achieved with asolution composed of ten to fifty percent concentrated hydrofluoricacid, by volume, balance deionized water or with a commericallyavailable mix of 10% HF, balance NH₄ F, known as "buffered oxideetchant". The substrate is dipped in this mixture at room temperatureand gently agitated until all coating residue is removed from thesurface as indicated by visual observation. Following this acid dip, thesubstrate is rinsed in deionized water and blown dry with dry nitrogengas. Its electrical sheet resistance is then measured using thefour-point probe technique, which is well known in the art, and itsinfrared optical transmission is verified with an infraredspectrophotometer covering the appropriate wavelength region.

Both the doped and undoped surfaces of the substrate are then coatedwith a plurality of anti-reflection coatings 15-22 (See FIG. 1). Theseanti-reflection coatings are deposited by vacuum evaporation from anelectron beam gun source with appropriate optical and acousticalthickness and deposition rate monitoring instrumentation which is alsowell known in the art. Only three layers per surface are employed inthis window. Layers 15 and 19 consist of thorium tetrafluoride (ThF4)and are 0.621 microns thick; layers 16 and 20 consist of germanium andare 0.098 microns thick; layers 17 and 21 are thorium tetrafluoride(ThF4), 0.621 microns thick.

Referring now to FIG. 6 a window of the invention employing a galliumarsenide semi-insulating substrate 40 is shown. In this window a galliumarsenide film 41 is grown on the substrate utilizing metal organicchemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The epitaxial thickness may be 15 to50 microns, but is typically 25 microns. Epitaxial deposition by thistechnique is well known in the art and is described for example, on page324 of Semiconductor Devices by S. M. Sze, Published by John Wiley &Sons in 1985. This process in its essence uses sources oftrimethylgallium vapor and arsine with hydrogen as a carrier gas. Thevapor carried on hydrogen is passed over the gallium arsenide substrateheated in a furnace to 650-900° C. at which temperatures the vapor andgas decompose. The gallium and arsenic thus produced have high affinityfor the gallium arsenide substrate and condense on this substrate,forming a crystal surface structure thereon. The thickness of thedeposited layer 41 is determined by the amount of gas flowed over thesubstrate. Since gallium arsenide in its pure state is not electricallyconductive at room temperature, an electrically active dopant, siliconin the form of silane is added to the gas stream during the epitaxialgrowth of layer 41. The silane is added to the gas stream at a very lowflow rate such that the resultant silicon is incorporated into thegallium arsenide on the order of silicon atom for 10⁶ gallium arsenidemolecules. In this example, the antireflectant coating consists of onlythree layers per surface. Referring to FIG. 6, layer 41 is epitaxiallygrown gallium arsenide, layers 43 and 47 consist of zinc selenide andare 0.177 microns thick, layers 44 and 48 consist of silicon monoxideand are 0.224 microns thick, layers 45 and 49 consist of magnesiumfluoride and are 0.315 microns thick, and layers 46 and 50 are absent inthis design.

An example of the fabrication of a window of the invention employing agallium arsenide substrate as described is as follows in connection withFIG. 5.

EXAMPLE III

A gallium arsenide wafer 51 having a thickness of 0.017 inches wasplaced on a silicon carbide coated susceptor 56 in a quartz reactionchamber such as shown in FIG. 5. This chamber is sealed off from theambient atmosphere and purged by flowing hydrogen at the rate of 6.5liters per minute for fifteen minutes. The susceptor 56 for the galliumarsenide substrate is then raised to 800° C. by inductively heating thesusceptor (using rf power applied through the coil 54) for a period offifteen minutes with the addition of arsine being flowed through thechamber at the rate of 0.60 liters/min. The vapors of trimethyl galliumat -12.8° C. on a hydrogen carrier flowing at a rate of 0.080liters/min. and silane gas diluted with hydrogen at 40 parts silane toone billion parts hydrogen are flowed through the chamber for a periodof one hundred minutes to achieve a 24 micron thick epitaxial layer ofgallium arsenide. At the end of this period, the flow of trimethylgallium vapor and silane on the hydrogen carrier is terminated, the flowof arsine being continued. The furnace is then permitted to cool to roomtemperature, the flow of arsine being shut off when the temperaturereaches 550° C.

The anti-reflectant layers are then applied as for the previous windowby conventional vacuum evaporation. In this example, the anti-reflectantcoating consists of only three layers per surface. Referring to FIG. 6,layer 41 is epitaxially grown gallium arsenide, layers 43 and 47 consistof zinc selenide and are 0.177 microns thick, layers 45 and 49 consistof magnesium fluoride and are 0.315 microns thick, and layers 46 and 50are not employed in this design.

Further gallium arsenide and gallium aluminum arsenide coating areformed as follows:

EXAMPLE IV

A gallium arsenide substrate polished on both sides was located into anMOCVD reactor (a modified Crystal Specialties Model 410A). A galliumarsenide layer was epitaxially grown thereon to a thickness of about 5microns. During growth of this layer it was doped with silicon at about1.5×10¹⁶ cm³ to form an n gallium arsenide conductive layer.

EXAMPLE V

The same technique can be used to grow a gallium aluminum arsenidelayer. Thus a gallium arsenide wafer was inserted into the MOCVD reactorand annealed at 920° C. for 5 minutes immediately followed by the growthof a gallium aluminum arsenide layer to a thickness of about 15 microns.The initial 500 Angstroms of this layer was graded in aluminum contentfrom 0.0 to 0.30 aluminum content. This layer was also doped withsilicon ions to a dopant concentration of 1×10¹⁸ cm³ to form an ngallium aluminum arsenide conducting layer.

Germanium films as coating on substrates can be fabricated using vacuumevaporation, sputtering, and chemical vapor deposition, with electricaland optical properties tailored to suit various applications. Carriermobilities reported in the literature range from 350 to 1035 cm² /V secfor evaporated films, and from 25 to 1930 cm² /V sec for sputteredfilms. As a general rule, the germanium films having the highestmobilities are monocrystalline with a relatively low density ofmicrostructural defects, as fabricated by either deposition method.Amorphous films produced by sputtering or evaporation, with or withouthydrogenation, typically exhibit electrical conductivities which are toolow by several orders of magnitude for windows of the invention.

Both vacuum evaporation and sputtering methods of coating fabricationmay be described in terms of three steps: (1) Transition from acondensed (solid or liquid) phase to the vapor or plasma phase; (2)Transport of the vapor or plasma phase from the source to the substrate;(3) Condensation of the vapor or plasma on the substrate followed byfilm nucleation and growth.

In vacuum evaporation, vapors are produced by heating a source by directresistance, radiation, eddy currents (induction), electron beam, laserbeam, or an arc discharge. The process is carried out in high vacuum(10⁻⁵ to 10⁻⁶ Torr) so that the evaporated atoms travel in anessentially collisionless, line-of-sight path to condense on thesubstrate, which is usually at ground potential (i.e., not electricallybiased).

In sputter (ion beam and conventional) coating processes, a source ofcoating material, i.e. a target, is bombarded by ions of a heavy inertgas (e.g., Argon) at pressures from 10⁻⁴ to 0.2 torr, ejecting materialin atomic or molecular form due to the momentum exchange associated withions impacting the solid surface. The flux of sputtered atoms isintercepted by the substrate in the vacuum chamber. The substrate may beheated, cooled, electrically biased, or grounded. Higher energy of thesputtered atoms leads to improved bonding with the substrate, but alsoto higher residual stress in the sputtered coating.

Deposition conditions required to fabricate high quality germanium filmsgenerally include elevated substrate temperatures as, for example, 150to 700° C. for evaporation and 150 to 400° C. for sputtering. Furtherstringently clean high vacuum conditions are practiced as is the highlysuccessful use of substrate bias.

The structure and properties of sputtered and evaporated germanium isknown to depend upon deposition rate, substrate temperature, ambientpressure in the coating system, and substrate electrical potential(bias), if any. Several models have been presented in the literature,attempting to explain the experimental observations and deducequantitative relationships with deposition variables. More or lessquantitative relationships between film growth rates, substratetemperatures, and film crystallinity have been obtained by severalobservers. While these differ in detail, there is broad agreement as tominimum temperatures for homoepitaxy (150-180° C.) and the activationenergy for the amorphous to crystalline transition (approximately 1.5 eVin accord with nucleation theory and the observed activation energy forsurface diffusion of germanium on germanium). Data relating to Hallmobilities of germanium films to substrate temperature during depositionhave also been reported.

For sputtering germanium films having high electrical conductivity andcarrier mobility and acceptable optical transmission, a substrate whichcan be both heated and electrically biased is utilized. Typical RFsputtering conditions include target bias 3000 V, substrate bias 600 Vand substrate temperature 360° C. The sputtering is performed with 60 Hzac power supplied to both target and substrate holder in a vacuum systemwith a base pressure of 10⁻⁶ Torr.

An additional method utilized an RF (13.6 MHz) diode or magnetron or DCmagnetron sputtering source (Cathode) of germanium and a substrate tablewith capability for both heating and application of an RF biaspotential. The system is pumped with a diffusion pump and liquidnitrogen (N₂) trap to a base pressure of about 10⁻⁷ Torr. Cryo- orturbo-molecular pumping to a lower base pressure are preferable, giventhe importance of reducing the levels of contaminants such as oxygen andwater vapor. An ion gun capable of direct bombardment of the substrateand growing film may be considered as an alternative to substratebiasing to achieve the same end; supplying sufficient energy to theatoms of the growing film to promote the development of long range order(crystallization) at low to moderate substrate temperatures. An furtheralternative approach employs ion beam sputtering of a germanium targetas a substitute for the RF or DC magnetron sources suggested above, incombination with ion bombardment of the heated substrate by a second iongun.

For reasons of optical transmission, durability, and availability inlarge sizes, polycrystalline zinc sulfide and zinc selenide arepreferred substrate materials for these germanium coatings (as well asother coatings utilized in high temperature windows). In addition, anantireflection coating can be used between the substrate surface and theconductive germanium layer.

A different approach utilizes plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD). This technique exhibited success in the fabrication of highquality silicon and germanium films at substrate temperatures of of lessthan 300° C.

EXAMPLE VI

A further doped germanium coating was fabricated on a zinc selenidesubstrate utilizing ion pumped e-beam evaporation. Germanium (highpurity 40 ohm/cm), dopant antimony (99.9999%) and zinc selenidesubstrates were cleaned in a heated solvent followed by an acid dip.They were loaded in the vacuum chamber of the e-beam system. The chamberwas pumped down to 10⁻⁸ -10⁻⁷ torr while the substrate, shuttered fromthe sources, was heated at 300° C. The substrate was further heated to400° C. and just prior to evaporation the antimony was heated to 550° C.The e-beam control was activated and the germanium source heated toachieve an evaporation rate of 3 angstroms per second. The shutterbetween the sources and the zinc selenide substrate was removed toinitiate deposition on the substrate. Evaporation was continued for atime sufficient to achieve a desired thickness of the coating on thesubstrate. Upon completion of the coating, the e-beam heat, the antimonyheat and the substrate heat were discontinued and the reactor cooled forabout 2 hours to 100° C. After the cooling period vacuum was disruptedand the coated substrate removed from the vacuum chamber. Utilizing thisprocedure windows having coatings of thickness from 2 microns to 25microns can be formed.

EXAMPLE VII

In a like manner to example VI, a window having a antimony dopedgermanium coating on a gallium arsenide substrate is prepared.

While the invention has been described and illustrated in detail, it isto be clearly understood that this is by way of illustration and exampleonly and is not to be taken by way of limitation, the spirit and scopeof the invention being limited only by the terms of the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A conductive window transparent to infraredradiation comprisinga substrate made of material selected from the groupconsisting of zinc sulfide and zinc selenide and formed in a manner tobe transparent to infrared radiation, a thin coating of semiconductormaterial deposited on the surface of said substrate in a manner to betransparent to infrared radiation, a dopant contained in saidsemiconductor coating, said dopant being selected to thereby form withsaid coating a semiconductor having significant carrier concentration ofdonors or acceptors, said dopant thereby causing said coating to exhibitconductivity with a sheet resistance of less than about 30 ohms persquare, and the thickness of the semiconductor coating and theconcentration of the dopant being adjusted to cause said coating toremain substantially transparent while exhibiting said conductivity. 2.A transparent, conductive window of claim 1 wherein:said semiconductorcoating is selected from the group consisting of gallium arsenide,silicon, germanium, zinc sulfide, zinc selenide, zinc oxide,semiconducting diamond and semiconducting silicon carbide.
 3. Atransparent, conductive window of claim 1 wherein:said semiconductorcoating is of a thickness of about 2 microns to about 25 microns.
 4. Atransparent, conductive window of claim 1 wherein:said window istransparent to electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths selected fromthe range of from about 0.4 microns to about 12 microns.
 5. Atransparent, conductive window of claim 1 wherein:said window istransparent to electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths selected fromthe range of about 2 microns to about 12 microns.
 6. A transparent,conductive window of claim 1 wherein the sheet resistance of saidsemiconductor coating is less than about 10 ohms per square.
 7. Atransparent, conductive window of claim 1 wherein:said semiconductorcoating and said substrate of the same material or of a differentmaterial with the proviso that when said substrate is a semiconductormaterial said resistivity of said semiconductor substrate is greaterthan 10 ohms per square.
 8. An infrared, transparent, conductive windowcomprisingan infrared, transparent substrate selected from the groupconsisting of zinc sulfide and zinc selenide, an infrared, transparentsemiconductor coating deposited on a surface of said substrate, saidsemiconductor coating is selected from the group consisting of germaniumand silicon, a dopant in said semiconductor coating for rendering saidsemiconductor coating conductive, and said dopant being selected fromthe group consisting of lithium, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, bismuth,boron, aluminum, gallium, indium, zinc and thallium.
 9. An infrared,transparent, conductive window comprising:an infrared, transparentsubstrate selected from the group consisting of zinc sulfide and zincselenide, an infrared, transparent semiconductor coating of galliumarsenide deposited on a surface of said substrate, a dopant in saidsemiconductor coating for rendering said semiconductor coatingconductive, and said dopant being selected from the group consisting ofsulfur, selenium, tin, tellurium, germanium, silicon, magnesium,lithium, zinc, manganese, cadmium and beryllium.
 10. A conductive windowtransparent to infrared radiation comprisinga substrate made of materialselected from the group consisting of zinc sulfide, zinc selenide,sapphire, spinel and aluminum oxy nitride, said substrate being made tobe transparent to infrared radiation, a thin coating of semiconductormaterial deposited on the surface of said substrate in a manner to betransparent to infrared radiation, a dopant contained in saidsemiconductor coating said dopant being selected to thereby form withsaid coating a semiconductor having significant carrier concentration ofdonors or acceptors, said dopant thereby causing said coating to exhibitconductivity with a sheet resistance of less than about 30 ohms persquare, and the thickness of the semiconductor coating and theconcentration of the dopant being adjusted to cause said coating toremain substantially transparent while exhibiting said conductivity. 11.A conductive window transparent to infrared radiation comprisingasubstrate made of material selected from the group consisting of zincsulfide and zinc selenide and formed in a manner to be transparent toinfrared radiation, a thin coating of semiconductor material depositedon the surface of said substrate in a manner to be transparent toinfrared radiation, said semiconductor coating selected from the groupconsisting of gallium arsenide, silicon, and germanium, a dopantcontained in said semiconductor coating said dopant being selected tothereby form with said coating a semiconductor having significantcarrier concentration of donors or acceptors, said dopant therebycausing said coating to exhibit conductivity with a sheet resistance ofless than about 30 ohms per square, and the thickness of thesemiconductor coating and the concentration of the dopant being adjustedto cause said coating to remain substantially transparent whileexhibiting said conductivity.